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A helping hand for a Dubai court should have a welcome spin-off for London and may even usher in a new era

Senior judges from England and Dubai cut a landmark deal last week to ease
mutual recognition of commercial rulings in the jurisdictions and boost
British trade with the Gulf.

But the guidance highlights questions over the viability of the eight-year-old
court in the United Arab Emirates common law free zone, as it faces
competition from neighbouring countries and a nearby arbitration centre.

The deal, signed in London, had high-level blessing. Mr Justice Cooke, head of
the Commercial Court of England and Wales, and Michael Hwang, SC, the Chief
Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, inked the
agreement,

Court of Appeal
Published: March 3, 2015
In re M and Others (Children) (Abduction: Child’s Objections)
Before Lord Justice Richards, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Ryder
Judgment: January 27, 2015
When a court was determining whether, for the purposes of article 13 of the
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980,
a child who objected to being returned to his country of habitual residence
had attained the age and degree of maturity at which it was appropriate to
take account of his views, the exercise required was a straightforward
examination of whether the terms of the Convention had been satisfied
without the use of any technical subsidiary tests